MotoGP 2006 - Round Three

UJohn Hopkins took his maiden MotoGP pole this afternoon, Rizla Suzuki’s second of the 2006 season. The Anglo-American clocked a time of 1’36.411 to take the top spot on an overcast day at the Assen Circuit, leading a front four containing four different manufacturers.

Hopkins edged out second placed rider Shinya Nakano by just 13 thousandths of a second, with the strong-qualifying Japanese rider putting himself on the front row. Colin Edwards, fastest in every practice session ahead of Saturday’s A-style TT Assen, completed the first line.

Repsol Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa headed row two, still under the 1’37 barrier, whilst Chris Vermeulen rounded off a superb day for Rizla Suzuki by placing in the top six qualifiers.

Marco Melandri, still tender from his huge crash in Catalunya, battled through the pain barrier to finish ahead of yesterday’s surprise package Carlos Checa, whilst Ducati debutant Alex Hofmann earned his best qualifying performance of the season in ninth.

The big news of the day came from World Champion Valentino Rossi, always making headlines even when off the pole-spot. The MotoGP star rode just four laps in the morning session before heading to the Clinica Mobile. After further treatment to the hairline fracture on the title-holder’s hand, Rossi came out for the qualifying session, where he put in just thirteen laps of the newly-modified track. After an initial attempt to earn a high grid position without qualifying tyres, the Camel Yamaha rider called it a day in order to rest for tomorrow’s race. Technicians for the team have modified the brake lever of the M1 to aid Rossi’s comfort, their rider starting from eighteenth and last place on the grid and taking the decision whether to compete or not after tomorrow's warm-up.

Fellow injury-listed Italian Loris Capirossi was also suffering the after-effects of his Catalunya crash, and will start tomorrow’s Dutch race from fifteenth on the Ducati.

Jorge Lorenzo took his fifth pole of 2006 at the Assen Circuit today, and will start the 250cc A-Style TT Assen ahead of his two constant rivals in the quarter litre class tomorrow. The Fortuna Aprilia rider took the top spot with a 1’40.007 lap, 0.137 of a second ahead of Alex de Angelis, with championship leader Andrea Dovizioso over a second behind the front two. The top eleven were all within a second of the Italian Honda rider, with little separating his time from those of Shuhei Aoyama, Yuki Takahashi and Marco Simoncelli in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

After failing to earn points at Catalunya, second placed 125cc rider Mika Kallio needs a strong performance in Assen to keep in the title chase. The Finnish rider trails Alvaro Bautista by a considerable margin in the overall classification, and aided his chances by taking pole for tomorrow’s A-Style TT Assen.

Kallio took the front position at the last moment, half a tenth ahead of his title rival Bautista. Lukas Pesek, who yesterday took provisional pole, completes the front row alongside Sergio Gadea.

Mattia Pasini, Andrea Iannone, Nico Terol and Simone Corsi make up the second row, whilst Pablo Nieto and Gabor Talmacsi round off the top ten.

1st position John Hopkins (Suzuki), 1'36.411 :
"I gave all I had, as have Suzuki and Bridgestone this entire year. We have worked hard to be amongst the frontrunners, and after a few second places we have finally managed to get on pole."

2nd position Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki), 1'36.424 :
"I have felt good since the first day, and I have been improving day by day. Second place isn’t bad at all, because it gives me a lot of strength for tomorrow’s race."

3rd position Colin Edwards (Yamaha), 1'36.755 :
"I would have liked to have taken pole, of course. I was pretty happy with my times that I did with the qualifying tyres, but to tell the truth the reason I’m in third is because those ahead of me did some great lap-times."